When you started traveling, you may have had a great relationship with the people at your travel nurse agency. But like all relationships, things can change. The people you enjoy working with move on. Shifting business goals can mean that focuses switch, and things just aren’t what they used to be. Whatever the reason, that relationship that you once had is different now. It’s just not working for you, and you’re thinking about making a switch.
Before you make any agency change, you may want to consider switching recruiters, especially if you’re with an agency that generally has a good reputation. But if you’re seeing any of these signs, a recruiter change may not be enough. It could be time to break up with your agency.
Your travel nurse agency’s response time is more than 24 hours.
How quickly does your agency respond to issues? What about submittals? How quickly can they find answers for you? If you contact your agency and someone there doesn’t respond to you on the same day–extenuating circumstances excluded–then they are taking too long.
Keep in mind that you have the power to create urgency. If you call and leave a message that tells your recruiter your question isn’t critical and that they can get back to you at their convenience, then that “same day” timing may slip some. But no agency should leave you hanging, and if yours does then it’s time to find a new one.
The recruiters aren’t nurse-centered.
Who is your recruiter most concerned about, you or the agency? If your recruiter continually pushes you toward jobs that you don’t want in locations you have no interest on shifts that don’t match your needs, then they likely aren’t worried as much about you being happy as they are about lining their agency’s pockets. The control over what job you take should always be in your hands.
Your recruiter should be listening to what you want and tailoring a plan around that. He should know your goals and help you meet them.
You feel like you aren’t getting the whole story.
Transparency is the hallmark of a good agency/traveler relationship, and if you feel at all like your travel nurse agency is keeping things from you then it’s time to start shopping for a new one. How do you know if you aren’t getting the whole story? Look for indirect answers to direct questions. That’s usually a good sign. If they hem and haw when you ask about pay for a potential contract, they aren’t being transparent. Same is true about jobs. Sometimes, jobs just aren’t available that meet your criteria. A good recruiter and a good agency are going to tell you that.
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